New Driver's License

Recently received a post card that said my license was expiring on 10/5/2009. We renew them every six years in Missouri. Six years ago, I had forgotten to get it renewed and let it expire. So, I had to take the written exam and go for a ride with a policeman. Pain in the butt!!!! So, when I got the card, I gathered up all the documentation they require and headed to the license place with my zip lock plastic bag. After 2001, Missouri decided that no one would have a MO license who was not a "legal", who was a terrorist, etc.

So, we are required to show up with a minimum of an official birth certificate with a raised stamp to prove we were born in the USA and an official social security card. I have a SSN, but the card disappeared many years ago. It was the cheapest of cardboard and I obtained it when I was 16. I'm now 63. I have no idea how to get a new one, but I'm sure getting a new one involves standing in line no less than 7 to 12 weeks.

Lacking an official social security card, you must know your SSN # (I do) and have at least one of the following:

1) most recent bank statement with your home address on it (to prove you live here).
2) most recent voter registration to prove you live here.
3) most recent pay check stub with your home address on it to prove you live here.
4) most recent utility bill to prove you live here.
5) it goes on and on and all of it has to do with proving you live here.

I had an entire zip lock plastic bag of "documents" proving I live here. I also had my most receent statement from social security telling me how much I will get a month if I they don't run out of money & I live long enough to collect any of it.

So, I sat sweating buckets with my heart pounding in my chest on a bench waiting for hours. Finally, it was my turn. I approached with trepidation. Would I have enough documentation to prove that I was not "illegal" and was not a terrorist. Would they accept me as a real American.

It went smoothly and I was awarded a renewed license. I'll be nearly 70, if I live that long, before I have to go through this again.

I guess those folks don't watch the news or read the papers. Florida just picked up 8 or 9 guys who were born in the USA, look remarkably like me, and have all the right papers. Yet, they had stockpiled all sorts of ammunition, weapons, diagrams, plans, etc. and had firm plans to strike American assets in foreign countries. State employees need to dig a littler deeper and spend less time terrorizing regular ordinary folks just trying to earn a living and obey the laws.

By the way, the picture alone is enough to shorten my life by several years.